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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Futa Jallon and the Jakhanke Clerical Tradition. Part One: The Historical Setting |
Author: | Sanneh, Lamin O. |
Year: | 1981 |
Periodical: | Journal of Religion in Africa |
Volume: | 12 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 38-64 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Guinea |
Subjects: | ulema history Futa Jallon polity Religion and Witchcraft Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1581013 |
Abstract: | In the mid-eighteenth century a significant clerical branch of the Jabi-Gassama lineage, led by al-Hajj-Salim Gassama, also called Karamokho Ba, abandoned Bundu and eventually came to settle in Futa Jallon. Under the leadership of the Jabi-Gassama, other major clerical lineages also emigrated to Futa Jallon, which became the haven and the crucible for the clerical legacy of al-Hajj Salim Suware, characterised by political autonomy, neutralism and military pacifism. In part I of the present study, the author explains who the Jakhanke clerical people are and then looks at the historical setting of their entry into Futa Jallon, the ethnic and religious background, French colonial penetration, and Franco-Jakhanke relations in the period 1886-1917. In part II, the life and work of Karamokho Ba is considered in detail, based on a chronicle (presented in translation) of the Jabi-Gassama qabilah to which Karamokho Ba himself belonged. Touba, the settlement he and his Jakhanke community established in Futa Jallon, became something of a university town and a holy pilgrimage centre, and Karamokho Ba himself a model of clerical independence and intellectual eminence. Notes. |